Captain Koke feels Atletico Madrid still have miles to travel for a successful defence of their La Liga title.

The reigning champions secured their second win in a row in this season’s La Liga, beating Elche by a solitary goal at the Wanda Metropolitano in Madrid on Sunday. Riding on Angel Correa’s 39th-minute strike, Atletico recorded their second consecutive win and are now atop the standings with six points from two matches.

However, for another successful campaign, each of the players need to keep working hard, Koke emphasised. “We’ve begun well, but there’s still an exciting season ahead.

“As always, we want to make it a great season for us. Hopefully, we can keep playing in this fashion and win like last year. But to do that, we’ve to keep working really hard as it’s a long season,” the 29-year-old midfielder, with 56 appearances so far for Spain, said in quotes shared by La Liga.

Defending the title shouldn’t put his team under any kind of extra pressure. It should rather serve as a motivation, Koke believes.

“If you persevere, you can achieve your goals and become a champion. It (being champions again) has to be a motivation, not like excess weight on our shoulders. It’s a challenge for us and we want to fight for the championship again.”

Personal milestones matter little for Koke, who has the most number of appearances for Atletico, having represented the club in more than 500 matches.